“The Red Book” by Mark Harper should be on every shelf of every Children’s Ministry leader. It is a great ministry hand/guide-book that is easily digested with practical application steps.

This book covers the important aspects of Children’s Ministry. Mark doesn’t only tell you what those aspects are, He shares his own experiences, insights, and how you can put in place those ideas into your own ministry. Every chapter is short. When it comes to Ministry, there is a ton to unpack even if we’re only considering the most basic elements. Great nuggets of timeless wisdom and knowledge in every chapter. Steps you can follow the next Sunday.

I will admit, I had one part of the book in which I had a struggle with Mark and do not see eye to eye with this comment of his. On page 57 he writes: “In my opinion, too many of us have bought into this philosophy of “teach less for more.” I do agree with the idea of teaching less for more. The way Mark uses this thought is not correct. Mark writes how our kids are starving for the word of God. If you are starving then you feed that hunger. I agree we have people starving for the word of God and that we should feed them as much as possible. The “teach less for more” isn’t people like myself saying we need to teach less of Gods word. Let’s look instead at what we are doing in our services and make sure we have given the word priority over all the extra things. That is “teaching less for more”.

In my ministry, we have made small groups where the word can be shared in a way the kids can flesh it out. The “Word” has such a priority, that it gets more than half our time together each week. This time is what gives us more bang for our investment than anything else we can do.

Outside of this, this was an incredible refreshing book to read. I enjoyed this book so much that I am ordering it for all my leaders and I would urge you to do the same. I am using each short chapter as a stand-alone teaching in my pre-service huddles with my leaders.

Thanks, Mark Harper for such a great book that anyone of any church size can use.

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Todd McKeever

I have had the privilege of being a Full-Time Pastor for 27+ years. During this time God has allowed me to pastor children, youth, parents, and help to develop leaders of all ages and generations.
To cover my personal life I blog at toddmckeever.com and to cover the ABC's (Apps, Books, and Coaching) for productive leadership I blog at myproduciveleadership.com
I am married to Rachel, the best wife that God could have handpicked for me. We have been given three incredible gifts from God by the names of Jenelle, Camille, and Zachary.
Lastly, I enjoy fishing with family, reading about leadership, task management, all things Macintosh and gadgets.

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Todd McKeever

I have had the privilege of being a Full-Time Pastor for 27+ years. During this time God has allowed me to pastor children, youth, parents, and help to develop leaders of all ages and generations.
To cover my personal life I blog at toddmckeever.com and to cover the ABC's (Apps, Books, and Coaching) for productive leadership I blog at myproduciveleadership.com
I am married to Rachel, the best wife that God could have handpicked for me. We have been given three incredible gifts from God by the names of Jenelle, Camille, and Zachary.
Lastly, I enjoy fishing with family, reading about leadership, task management, all things Macintosh and gadgets.